brumal

bru•mal (BROO-muhl)  adj

Definition:
1. belonging to winter; winter-like
2. characteristic or related to winter
3. occurring in winter

Origin:
1513; from L. brumalis, from bruma "winter" (perhaps with an original sense "season of the shortest day," from *brevima, contracted from brevissima, superl. of brevis "short"). Source of Brumaire, second month (Oct. 22-Nov. 20) in calendar of the French Republic, lit. "the foggy month," coined 1793 by Fabre d'Eglantine from Fr. brume "fog," from L. bruma

Related:
Synonyms: hibernal, hiemal, wintry
Related Words: brume, brumous

Sentence Examples:
• But we were now in the very heart of winter, and after much frost scarcely a single wretched brumal flower lingered and languished. -Shelley at Oxford, Thomas Jefferson Hogg

• The robin returns from the land of fire, and therefore he feels the cold of winter far more than his brother birds. He shivers in the brumal blast; hungry, he chirps before your door. Oh! my child, then, in gratitude throw a few crumbs to poor red-breast.

•         "Old longings nomadic leap,
          Chafing at custom's chain;
          Again from its brumal sleep
          Wakens the ferine strain."
-The Call of the Wild, Jack London

The Storyline
Anna felt cold. Outside it was summer. But in that office the climate was brumal.

Sources: Wiktionary, Online Etymology

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

gelid

gel•id   (ˈje-ləd)    adj

Definition 

extremely cold, icy

gelidity noun; gelidness noun;  gelidly adverb

Related

Synonyms: arctic, bitter, bone-chilling, freezing, frigid, frosty, cold, glacial, ice-cold, icy, numbing, polar, shivery, wintry

Related Words: all sharing the PIE root gel "cold":  cold, gelatin, glacial

Examples

• Yet lurking close, she bites his gelid lips, And sticking her black tongue in his dry throat, She breathes dire murmurs, which enforce him bear Her baneful secrets to the spirits of horror. 1844
• A gelid blast is blowing in through the wide-open window. It's always that way in hospitals. They cure your appendicitis and then make you die of pneumonia. 2007

The Storyline

The thought sent a gelid flash down her spine...

Origin

from L. gelidus “icy cold,” from gelum “frost, intense cold” from PIE base *gel-/*gol- "cold"
First Known Use: 1599

Sources: Merriam-Webster, Online Etymology

Why This Word:

Everybody talks about the weather. Incessantly. It's hard to have too many synonyms for hot, cold, humid, dry, etc.

Word-E: A Word-A-Day